Neil Cavuto’s One-Sided Attack On The Affordable Care Act

On yesterday’s Your World, former Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI) defended his vote on the 2010 Affordable Care Act under a barrage of attacks and interruptions from host Neil Cavuto. Stupak stood strong but he could have tried to put Cavuto on the defensive by asking why Cavuto was ignoring or discounting the many benefits of the ACA (“ObamaCare”) to the country as a whole.

Cavuto asked, “Do you ever regret that vote, given all the problems now?”

No, Stupak didn’t. He said, “I’m proud of the vote. I always felt that health care should be a right, not a privilege in this country. One of the reasons why I ran for Congress. I’m glad to have helped accomplish that goal.”

“Did you know that there would be these problems or that millions of Americans would have to pay more for their premiums or. for that matter, maybe not have health care altogether?” Cavuto asked.

Stupak answered, “The surtax on the health care bill alone in my Congressional district - less than one tenth of one percent has to pay any more, but yet I had 50,000 people in my district who were uninsured at the time who will benefit from this piece of legislation.”

So Cavuto moved on to attack President Obama. “Do you think the President meant it when he said at the time if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, if you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan? Because it seems now in retrospect a lot of your colleagues knew that was impossible.” Cavuto “asked.”

“Most people can keep their health insurance, it’s really up to their employer,” Stupak replied. He added, “What the President was saying, you can no longer have your insurance policy rescinded or terminated by the insurance companies. You no longer go bankrupt. You have to have a basic essential plan. Everyone understood, at least the legislators understood, that there’s going to be a basic plan that must have essential elements.”

Cavuto interrupted. “You’re right. We said you can’t have all of this stuff, the coverage of pre-existing conditions, get rid of the lifetime caps. All those are good and sound things, and a lot of very nice things, but to assume that it would not cost …was at best disingenuous… You didn’t get to the little asterisk in this. That you could end up losing your coverage or paying a hell of a lot more for it. That was never trumpeted as something that could be real for millions of Americans.”

Stupak disagreed. He said, “When we talked about the plans, remember there was the bronze, the gold and the silver plans, and each plan had to have a basic set of elements.”

Cavuto interrupted again: “Yeah, but no one said your policy was going to be dropped Congressman, no one said that.”

Stupak never became ruffled. He responded, “If you’re the insurance company, and if you don’t put forth a policy that has the basic human requirements for proper health care, why should you be?”

Another interruption from Cavuto. This time, he asked, “Do you think in retrospect this was sold with a wink and a nod and that the President pulled a fast one?”

“No, no,” Stupak said.

“Did he lie back then, or did he just not say that?” Cavuto asked.

Stupak said, “As Chairman of Oversight Investigations, I did two years, three years of just hearings on the inequities in the health insurance system.”

Cavuto interrupted yet again. “I know that, but no one ever said millions are going to pay more and millions are going to lose their coverage.”

“You’re not telling them also that under the health care bill, millions are getting rebates under the medical cost ratio,” Stupak answered.

Another interruption from Cavuto. “I most certainly did. I said that those who don’t have coverage or those that are poor, that they’re going to... the cost would be this for everybody else. So I don’t think that part was pitched.”

“Nobody said there’s a free lunch here,” Stupak said.

“Oh yeah you did,” Cavuto said. “I beg to differ with you sir. No, no. You’re a good guy, but I’m telling you - the unpleasant part of this that you can’t have something for nothing was never relayed.”

Stupak continued, “And what we said in health care where you’ll no longer be kicked off your policy because of pre-existing injuries, the insurance companies can’t use 400 different terms to say you have a pre-existing conditions.”

Cavuto agreed but interrupted “These are all very good, altruistic good people goals, but it’s going to cost us through the nose, and that’s the reality that’s hitting home today.”

Actually, that’s not true and it’s too bad Stupak didn’t quickly call Cavuto on that. A recent study by the Center for American Progress found that ObamaCare will save the federal government $190 billion over 10 years, lower the deficit and premiums. Stupak also could have pointed out that health insurance is a benefit to the economy as a whole. Or how medical bills are the biggest cause of bankruptcy in the U.S. Or how an estimated nearly 10 million people with health insurance will have trouble paying their medical bills this year.

Instead, Stupak merely said, “The policy decisions behind the Affordable heath care are sound, the rollout has been a disaster.” He countered Cavuto’s complain that it’s a “one size fits all thing” by saying that there are 32 different plans in Washington D.C. consumers can choose from. Stupak continued, “I read the editorial yesterday in the Washington Post from three different Governors who said, ‘Hey, it’s really working pretty well.’”

Not what Cavuto wanted to hear. He interrupted again. “Do you honestly believe that all these problems that millions are having are just exaggerations?”

“What I’m saying, Stupak said, “(is) there are going to be ups and downs in this health care rollout.” He called it “a sound piece of legislation” when commercials broke in to end the segment.

Stupak hung in well against Cavuto’s interruptions but he remained on defense when he could have gone on offense against Fox News’ relentless attacks on ObamaCare.